Black Crystal
by Youngbountygirl
Summary: During Alfred's coronation, Arthur's hidden powers burst out and endanger the Kingdom of Spades, including Alfred's life. Now, with Alfred slowly crystallizing, he must find Arthur and save their kingdom before everything and everyone becomes crystallized. Though, how will Alfred be saved from becoming crystallized too. Frozentalia
1. Prologue: Crystallization

**As you can guess, this is based off of Frozen with its own unique twist. I'm also taking bits from the original Snow Queen story. The first two chapters will pretty much be mainly Frozen, but it's after that when things start becoming different from Frozen. No, this isn't UsUk, unless you're thinking platonic UsUk. They're full blood brothers, so even those that disagree that it's incest can't use that excuse here. No, no one is being paired with anyone. This focuses on family love and nothing more. Review please!**

 _"Once upon a time, there lived a kingdom with a king and queen, who loved each other very much. They say their bond was so strong that not even the most cruel demons could tare them apart. One day, while fighting an ice demon, the queen's heart became cold as ice and slowly began freezing. His body slowly began turning into crystal ice."_

"Don't you mean _her_?" Alfred asked. The small boy was bundled in a blanket that wrapped around himself. He sat on his bed, while his big brother Arthur was reading him a story.

"Well, not all queens are female. Remember what Mommy said about kings and queens?" Arthur asked, who was smiling, wearing a simple robe. He was 10 years old and older than Alfred by four years.

"Yes! A king's duty is to rule over the kingdom and the queen protects the kingdom! That's why Mommy is in charge of the royal guards, while Daddy is in charge of the royal knights!" Alfred replied brightly, bragging about how much he was learning as Arthur chuckled.

"That's right! A queen also does not have to be married to the king and neither have to be a particular gender."

"They don't?"

"Nope. A king and a queen can be family or best friends as long as they share royal blood. In fact, the Queen of Hearts is a man. Remember who was queen before Mommy?"

"It was Grandma!"

"Why?"

"Because Mommy had not been coronated yet. Daddy had already been coronated as King, but Mommy was still learning to be Queen!"

"And why is she allowed to be Queen?"

"Because she is of royal blood from Diamonds!"

"That's right. Back to the story," Arthur said, continuing to read. _"The King tried everything in his power to save his Queen, but to no avail. Little by little, the Queen began crystallizing into ice. As the King watched his Queen slowly fade away, he performed his last act of love by fighting the ice demon that cursed his queen and slaughtered him. Once the ice demon was defeated, the ice in the Queen's heart melted away. The King and Queen united once again and lived happily ever after."_

"Aww, over already?" Alfred whined.

"I'm afraid so. That's the end of the story."

"But, I want more!"

Arthur chuckled, ruffling Alfred's hair. "We can play our own story, a continuation of the story."

"Okay! I can be the King and you can be the Queen!" Alfred shouted excitedly.

"Why would I be Queen?" Arthur smirked.

"Because, you're always so strict and smart. You always want things to be in order all the time. You'd make a great Queen."

"And, what makes you think you can be King and not me?"

"Because, I'm cute and awesome!"

"Oh, you little bugger," Arthur laughed, tickling Alfred as he squirmed around, laughing.

"But, I think you'd make a great king too."

"You think so?" Arthur asked with the softest of smiles.

"Mhm," Alfred nodded.

Arthur giggled, giving his little brother a small kiss on the nose before replying, "well, I think you'd make a great king too."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Then, when I get older and become King, I'll make you my Queen."

Arthur giggled, while tucking Alfred in bed, "you do that. Goodnight Alfred, I'll see you in the morning."

"You too," Alfred greeted as Arthur quietly walked out the door, gently closing the door.

Arthur sighed in relief as he entered back in his room. He began slowly breathing in and out, closing his eyes as he slowly slid down against the door, until he was sitting down. Once he opened his eyes, his entire room turned black as ash, only it wasn't from burning or fire. It was like a crystallized black. He stared at his shaking hands before using them to cover his face. He heard a knock on the door before gasping.

"Who is it!?" Arthur asked in panic. "I'm trying to sleep!"

"It's us, Sweetheart," a kind, womanly voice replied as Arthur opened the door. His parents entered inside his room, his father looking around.

"It's worse than before," the King muttered.

"What should I do!? I can't go on like this! I already hurt Alfred once, because of these stupid powers!" Arthur cried in panic.

"The wizard did say that these powers are triggered by fear and anger. Just try not to feel fear or anger beyond closed doors. You are doing wonderful around Alfred and he doesn't remember the incident. The wizard took away any memories of witnessing your powers."

"But, he says my powers are growing. How long will it take before I can no longer keep control? Will I have to tell Alfred? Will I have to run away?"

"No, you won't. Just keep your powers hidden from the public and you will do fine," the Queen said fearfully. "At least until we can find out more about these powers. Everything will be fine, Arthur."

Arthur slowly nodded as he hugged his mother. Just then, he saw blackness beginning to form where his hands touched and flinched away, crying with fearful tears. He ran into his closest.

"Arthur!" Arthur heard his mother cry for him as he bundled up.

Arthur kept crying in his closest as the entire closet began crystalizing into black crystals. Whatever these powers were, they were not going away and only grew stronger. He couldn't risk harming Alfred like this. He already almost lost Alfred once. Arthur could remember that faint memory clearly.

Arthur used to use his powers to play with Alfred, making sculptures of other people and Alfred's favorite characters. He would even use them to tell stories and Alfred loved them. Then, while playing, Alfred was climbing on one of Arthur's crystal statues, his foot slipped and Arthur tried using his powers to save Alfred. Instead, his powers hit Alfred's foot and Alfred passed out, his body all black and slowly hardening and crystallizing. His parents took Alfred to the wizard. Luckily, he had only been hit by one part of the body. The wizard warned Arthur that, if he had hit Alfred's heart, the crystallization would be permanent.

If Arthur did not control his powers, his little brother would soon pay the price.


	2. Coronation Catastrophe

**Second chapter. After this, the story will start becoming less like Frozen. Let me know what you think so far. Review please!**

It was funny how 13 years flew so quickly. The king and queen had fallen from a snowstorm during a trip, one that only Arthur knew was from trying to search for answers about his powers. Arthur or Alfred had to take the position as the new king. Arthur utterly refused the position, not wanting to place any of his people in danger, because of his powers. Alfred was a strong fighter, smart and knew how to settle diplomacy. He would make a wonderful king as far as Arthur could see it.

It was Alfred's coronation and Arthur felt nervous. He was the new king's brother. It was only right for him to appear. He was dressed in his periwinkle trench coat and waist coat. He took a deep breath, placing on his black gloves. These gloves were designed to seal his powers from his hands. After almost crystallizing his mother, the wizard created these, so Arthur could touch others without crystallizing them.

Arthur also knew that, now that Alfred was king, he had to tell his brother about his powers. There was no use hiding them from Alfred anymore. He was a grown man and deserved to know the truth.

"HEY ARTIE!" Arthur heard his brother cry out, opening the door, as he jumped.

"Alfred, you scared me, you wanker!" Arthur shouted with furrowed eyebrows.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited! I still can't believe you turned down being king, but I'm stoked it's going to be me. I'm already thinking of ways to make this kingdom better. I was thinking... Game Night every Tuesday," Alfred said, grinning as Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure everyone will love that," Arthur replied dryly with a sarcastic smirk to match it. "Did you remember to brush?"

"Of course I remembered! Geez, I'm not 5."

"AND floss."

"Uh... yes?"

"Floss, Alfred. This is your coronation and I'm not going to have my little brother show up with plaque between his teeth," Arthur stated, crossing his arms.

"Whatever you say, Mommy."

Arthur sighed sadly, looking down. "Please, it's too early to make that joke." At least his gloves were on.

"Dude, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it, I-"

"I know, Alfred. Just... forget it. I don't want to think about it," Arthur said, staring at his reflection.

There was a long pause, a pause of trying to forget, so his powers didn't start leaking. He had discovered that his gloves didn't always work. If Arthur was too scared, angry or sad, his powers would start leaking through his feet and every part of his body. He didn't want to do it in front of Alfred. He couldn't hurt Alfred again.

Suddenly, Arthur found two hands covering his eyes and yelped as Alfred laughed.

 _"Arthur, where's that smile!"_ Alfred asked sing-songly.

"Alfred, don't you dare-" Arthur glared before being turned and Alfred started searching him.

"I know that smile has to be around here somewhere. Is it in here?" Alfred asked playfully, looking under Arthur's trench coat.

"Alfred!" Arthur shouted, his mouth twitching.

"Is it in here?" Alfred asked, opening Arthur's jaw.

"Hands off, Alfred!" Arthur shouted, slapping Alfred's hands away from his face.

"I know it's gotta be in here," Alfred said, lifting Arthur's arm.

"A-Alfred, you're being incredibly ridiculous," Arthur said, as his lips twitched and curled up for a second. Luckily, Alfred caught it.

"A-HAH! There's that smile! _I found it! I found it!_ " Alfred grinned, pointing at Arthur's mouth.

"Oh, shut up, you bloody nutter," Arthur chuckled, finally giving up on trying to be angry and slapped Alfred's face from him.

"Make me," Alfred smirked, sticking out his tongue as Arthur rolled his eyes. "Seriously, it's my coronation. Right now isn't the time to be all mopey dopey. It's time to be happy, so be happy!" He took Arthur and swung him around as he laughed.

"Alright, alright, but just for today," Arthur replied, sighing, before he was placed down. He hugged Alfred close. "I'm proud of you, you know."

"I know. Maybe we can start spending more time together now. You started getting boring as you grew older."

"It's called hormones and puberty. Deal with it,"Arthur replied bluntly.

"Yeah, but I mean you just... I don't know... you'd lock yourself in your room, tell me you needed _alone time,_ refuse to play with me, and started treating me like you were my Mommy kinda."

"Excuse me, I do not!"

"Admit it, you do," Alfred grinned, poking Arthur's nose. "But seriously, I'd like to spend time with you more. Remember those bedtime stories you used to tell me?"

"Yes, I remember them," Arthur replied, smiling a bit. He sighed. "Very well. I'll try spending more time with you, Alfred. It's the least I can do."

"And no more shutting yourself from me. You do that almost all the time."

I do- fine. I'll try not to, but I do need my privacy."

"Eight hours of it?"

"I get busy!"

"With what?"

"Studies."

Eight hours?" Alfred asked with furrowed eyebrows and crossed arms.

"Alfred, let's talk about this later."

Alfred groaned, showing a pouty face, "fine."

"Thank you. Anyways, I believe those teeth still need flossing."

"Arthur!" Alfred whined.

"Now!" Arthur said firmly as Alfred dragged his feet to the bathroom.

Arthur chuckled a bit, shaking his head, before returning back to preparations. He made sure him and Alfred were ready for the coronation. Everyone was invited from all four kingdoms, even the Jokers. Once Alfred was king, he was allowed to choose a Queen and/or Jack or go solo. Zao had been the previous Jack, so Arthur figured Alfred would keep him. Zao had been like family to Alfred and Arthur, being he would sometimes look after the brothers when the parents were busy. The Jack also had to be someone from royal blood and Zao was of royal blood from the Kingdom of Hearts.

As for Queen, Alfred would have to choose someone from his family or marry a royal and make her queen. Though, Alfred was not allowed to choose a new queen, until he was coronated as king. Then, he could make plans to coronate a new queen, who would then be trained to being the new queen, unless he or she was already raised by Spades, in which case he or she would've already had the lessons needed.

Arthur watched as Alfred walked down the isle of the throne room to perform the ceremony of the coronation that he was trained to perform. Arthur stood in line with the royal family, who were his three older brothers, Alistair, Patrick and Dylan and his littlest brother Peter.

How the next king is chosen was mainly based on who passed with the best scores. Peter was still in training, while Alistair and Patrick failed and the rest passed. Arthur held the highest scores, but because he declined being king, Alfred had the second best scores with Dylan having the third best scores. Alfred would have to choose one of his four older brothers, if he was to choose a queen. Dylan would be the best choice.

"I crown King Alfred, LONG LIVE THE KING!" Zao declared, placing the crown upon Alfred's head before he stood up.

The crowd stood up and applauded, including Arthur. They then walked up to greet their new king and congratulate the royal family. Arthur kept himself distant as to not unleash his powers. He was beyond relieved when it was time for the party. He needed to get out as soon as he could to not place anyone in danger of his powers. Arthur just smiled and waved to the crowd before beginning to decent. Though, before he could get out, he felt someone take him by the elbow.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Alfred smirked as Arthur turned his head.

"W-Well, the party is nice and all, but this whole thing is overwhelming and I just need to rest for-"

"Co'mon, Artie! Don't be a party pooper! Let's dance!" Alfred grinned excitedly, dragging Arthur to the ballroom floor and they began to dance.

"A-Alfred, I'm tir- fine," Arthur said, finally defeated.

"I win!" Alfred grinned playfully as he turned Arthur in a twirl, which made him laugh.

"You're impossible."

"I'm awesome."

"So, you say."

"I am!" Alfred pouted as Arthur laughed.

"Just don't get too carried away and just this one dance. I really need to rest."

Alfred sighed, "why do you always do this? You hardly spend time with me anymore. All you do is go to your room and shut the door on everyone. We used to play together all the time when we were young. You'd tell me stories, reenact them, what happened to him?"

Arthur stared down at the floor, guiltily. "I'm sorry, Alfred. I guess I'm just not as fit for this as I used to be."

"Don't give me that. You're not even that old. I just don't understand. Why can't you spend time with me at my own coronation?"

"Alfred, we'll talk about this later. N-Not now," Arthur promised.

"You better, if you're going to be my new queen," Alfred smirked as Arthur's head shot up.

"W-What!?"

"Yeah, I'm actually in the process of working it out, but I'd like you to be my new queen. In fact, we can have your coronation in just a week or a few days. You don't need lessons and your score is higher than mine. You'd be perfect!"

"No, Alfred! It's a bad idea. Look, I can't tell you right now, but you can't make me queen. Have Dylan be queen, he'd make a good one and doesn't need lessons either."

"Why can't you be queen? I mean I suppose it's fine, if you don't want to be king, but you have a duty to perform. You have to have some sort of responsibility," Alfred replied with furrowed eyebrows.

"It's not about that, Alfred. Listen, I will explain later, but right now, I just can't be queen and that's final!" Arthur shouted, which gained the attention of everyone at the party. He realized his actions and looked down for a quick second to see specs of black crystal forming. Fear and anger began leaking out of Arthur. "I'm sorry Alfred, but I have to go." He began quickly walking on his way out of the ballroom.

"No, I'm not letting you run off and shutting yourself in again!" Alfred said, running after Arthur, then grabbing him by his hand, slipping his glove off.

"ALFRED! Give that back!" Arthur cried out.

"Not until you stop running away!"

"Alfred..." Dylan warned Alfred, knowing what was going on.

"Dylan, stay out of it!" Alfred warned Dylan.

"He's being serious, give Arthur back his glove!" Patrick cried out.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"I-I don't have time for this," Arthur said as he began running out of the ballroom, Alfred following him.

"Arthur, what's going on!? I'll give you back your glo- when did the grass suddenly become black marble?" Alfred realized, which made Arthur stop and notice black crystal spreading from his feet and all across the ground of the kingdom. Everyone gasped and backed away.

Arthur began backing up as he bumped into three people and they instantly became a black crystal statue. Arthur gasped, while everyone else screamed. Arthur cried, "no! No-No-No-No, this can't be happening!"

"What kind of sorcery is this!?" Arthur heard Francis shout, pointing at him.

"Back off, man. He obviously isn't doing this on purpose," Alfred replied defensively.

"What did you do to my daughter!?" A mother shouted at Arthur, pointing at the young girl among the group of people he turned into black crystal.

"I... I don't know!" Arthur cried, tears coming out as he began running, people turning into black crystal that he would bump into or push over.

"Arthur!" Alfred cried, proceeding to run after Arthur.

"Get away from me!" Arthur cried out as black rays burst from all sides of Arthur, one of them hitting Alfred straight through the heart. Arthur wasn't able to see it as Alfred passed out, gasping as he placed his hand over his heart.


	3. Beginning Journey

**As I have promised, this will be less like Frozen. I think you already can tell it is going to be different, especially given that Alfred doesn't have a love interest. Yep, Alfred doesn't end up with anyone. Hey, he's the king, why does he need a love interest? Anyways, this is going to be interesting, given that Arthur has control over cyrstal and not ice. I am excited in doing so many things with the idea of black crystal. Review please!**

"Alfred! Alfred, wake your bloody arse up!" Alfred heard a frantic voice.

"Alfred, say something," Alfred heard a voice of a child as his eyes slowly began opening. Everything was nothing, but black crystal: the walls, ceiling, floors, doors, furniture, _everything_.

"What happened?" Alfred moaned, looking and seeing all his brothers circling the bed he was lying in.

"Thanks to you, everyone is going witch hunting for Arthur and our kingdom is now in serious danger," Alistair snapped.

"Alistair, Arthur was going to go nuts with or without Alfred. If not Alfred, it would've been Peter that would've been the straw that broke the camel's back," Dylan sighed, slowly shaking his head.

"Why didn't anyone tell me Arthur had powers? At least now I know why he's such a jerk all the time," Peter glared at his brothers, folding his arms and grumbling.

"Great idea! _Hey Peter, Alfred, don't go into your brother's room, because he might kill ya with his uncontrollable crystal powers,_ " Alistair replied mockingly with a fake happy smile before it turned into a glare. "We tried that and Alfred almost got himself killed."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! When did that happen? I don't recall getting attacked by Arthur's voodoo powers before," Alfred glared.

"It was part of your blackout when you were five. You blacked out, because Arthur's _voodoo powers_ crystallized your memory glands. Father hired wizards to treat you enough to keep the crystals from crystalizing the rest of your mind, then body. Arthur had been trying to play with you less since then. He'd just stick to playing simple games with you inside and tell you bedtime stories, then... well, you figure it out," Patrick explained as Alfred blinked a few times.

"I need to find Arthur!" Alfred decided, getting up from his bed.

"No, you're not! You were hit with Arthur's powers and god knows if it's spreading right now! We need to get you checked, if it has started spreading," Alistair said, blocking the entrance from Alfred's bedroom where he was being cared for.

Alfred pushed Alistair out of the way, shouting, "I don't care! Arthur's out there and I need to go find him. He's supposed to be my queen and I'm not going to-"

"You're even more nuts! You saw what Arthur did!" Alistair shouted angrily.

"I'M NOT GOING TO ABANDON MY FUTURE QUEEN!" Alfred shouted at his oldest brother, who could only glare at him. "I'm going after Arthur and figure this whole thing out. If you don't want to come along, fine. I'll go by myself, if I have to, but I'm going to find Arthur and bring his stubborn ass home where he belongs."

"My king!" Alfred heard Zao cry out, having overheard half of the conversation. "If you are to search for your to-be queen, might I suggest taking a few of us with you?"

"I will need you to guard my kingdom, while I'm gone, Zao," Alfred said as Zao nodded. "Though, I would love to have some help with me. Send me Gilbert and ask him if he is to join me or not. If he is, tell him to meet me by the gate with his dogs and that he is allowed to take Gilbird with him."

"As you wish, my king," Zao replied, bowing before making his way down the hall.

"I want to come too!" Peter whined.

"I'm sorry Peter, but I don't want to worry Arthur more than I already have. Besides, Zao will need help providing for everyone, while this whole kingdom is in jeopardy," Alfred said in a gentle voice as Peter nodded sadly.

"Well, you're not leaving any of us here. He's not just your brother, you know," Dylan replied as Alfred sighed.

"That's not fair!" Peter complained.

"It is, actually. You're still in training and not just as future king either. You have more to learn, before you go outside the castle. For now, follow Alfred's orders."

Peter grumbled as Alfred rubbed his temples. "I'm taking Dylan! Patrick and Alistair, you both guard the kingdom. Arthur isn't going to be at ease, if _all_ his brothers start coming in like the Brady Bunch," Alfred decided as Alistair grumbled.

"We'll do it as long as there's at least one of us with you," Patrick replied, sighing.

"Thank you. We'll be back shortly," Alfred promised as the three brothers nodded before him and Dylan left, going down the stairwell. _"Hopefully."_

"It's not going to be easy to convince him to return, let alone become your queen," Dylan reminded Alfred.

"I know."

Alfred and Dylan made their way out of the castle, then walked to the gate. Being that everything was crystalized, traveling by horse or wheels was dangerous. They would have to travel by sled and dogs. It was way too slippery on the surface, being that the crystal was smooth as silk with hardly any friction. Gilbert had dogs to help pull and steer the sled, whose claws could hold themselves in place.

Gilbert appeared with his dogs, strapping them to the sled, then placed his stuff inside the sled. He had his little yellow bird on his shoulder named Gilbird. He wore black and white clothing as his Joker outfit. The Joker's job was travel, spy work and trade. They were highly important to the economy. Because of this, they were also good with direction and negotiating.

"So, what's been going on with Prince Arthur?" Gilbert asked.

"I think you already know a bit of it," Alfred replied, eying the black crystal around them. "I think it was sorta my fault."

"Don't say that. Arthur would've turned this place into a Crystal Playhouse with or without you. If not now, it would've been sooner or later. He just needed a little push," Dylan replied softly as Alfred nodded sadly. "We need to get our jackass of a brother."

"I'm up for that," Gilbert smirked.

"Just get going, Joker," Dylan ordered as Gilbert laughed, then pulled on the reins and the dogs began running off across the black, smooth crystal ground.

* * *

Arthur stared down at the now black crystallized mountain he was sitting on, sitting with his legs dangling at the edge. He stared down at his kingdom sadly as he slowly brought his legs up and hugged his knees. His head rested against his knees with fear in his eyes.

"It's for the best. Alfred would make a good king and the kingdom is far better without me," Arthur told himself. He took a deep breath. "At least I don't have to worry about hurting anyone again. I can use my powers without hurting anyone." He began chuckling a bit. He got up, then took a deep breath. "Let's see what I can do."

The black mountain Arthur was on began forming and changing shape. It was easy to see from anyone seeing the mountain, especially in the four kingdoms. It began looking to be like a tower with a single balcony. There wasn't a door in sight. There was only one large room in the very large tower. Arthur smiled, feeling proud at the creation he made. He then sighed.

"Alright, now time for a toilet break," Arthur said brightly before looking around and seeing no bathroom, then sighed. "Of course."


	4. The Spreading

**So, how can Alfred talk with Arthur, since he made it impossible to reach him? He'll find a way XD Review please!**

Gilbert was driving the sled, which was being pulled by his dogs. He was at the front, while Alfred and Dylan were in the back of the sled. Alfred stared at a moving black tower of some sort that Arthur seemed to be creating. Alfred had to question Arthur in this aspect. Why would he create a big tower for him to live in, if he's planning on running off and hiding? Didn't the castle just make his location more noticeable?

Dylan saw the tower and could only sigh, "idiot."

"It'll be alright once we talk to him and get him to snap out of it," Alfred said. He then started thinking, 'though seriously, what are you thinking, Arthur? Sure, go run and hide, then make a giant ass castle to hide yourself in. Surely, no one would dare to look there first, capture you and imprison you and you call me an idiot?'

"Alright, how do you plan on doing that? Sure, let's waltz in and say, 'hello, my jolly good friend. Say, could you come over back to the Spades Kingdom, so you can change everything back to normal, even though you can't control your powers?'," Dylan said mockingly.

"I have a plan!"

"Oh, I'd like to hear this, oh king," Dylan grinned sarcastically.

"I do!"

"And it is...?"

"Uh... I haven't figured it out yet, but I will have it!"

"And I still wonder how in the world you managed to become King."

"Hey look, maybe I'm making it up as I go, but we're going to help Arthur! If he keeps running off like this, he's going to continually harm more people and lands. He might even kill himself with his own voodoo crystal powers!"

Dylan sighed, rubbing his eyebrows. "I know, but do you really believe you can just easily talk Arthur into bringing our kingdom back to its crystallized form?"

"We won't know until we try," Alfred replied with a bright and confident smile on his face.

"I hope you're right, because at this point, Arthur might destroy all four Kingdoms of the Suits," Gilburt said as Alfred nodded sadly.

The gang eventually made it to Arthur's black crystal tower. Arthur did run off on foot, so he didn't or couldn't run too far and his tower already made his location obvious. Alfred stepped off the sled, then began walking toward the tower before slipping on the black crystal ground, which was glossy and smooth. Gilbert laughed as Dylan slapped the back of his head.

"Ow!" Gilbert responded, rubbing his head.

"Well, this is great, how are we going to walk there, let alone climb all the way up there?" Alfred wondered in annoyance as his eyes gazed from the foot of the tower to the top.

"HEY ARTHUR, GET YOUR BLOODY ARSE DOWN HERE!" Dylan shouted, hands cupping around his mouth.

 _"Go away!"_ Arthur's voice echoed from the top.

"ARTHUR, LISTEN, I JUST WANNA TALK! CAN YOU MAKE US A DOOR OR AT LEAST SOME FRICTION!?" Alfred cried out to Arthur, still sitting on his butt.

There was a bit of silence, then in invisible door slid up at the foot of the tower, though there was a black glass wall that remained in front of Arthur. He glared at Alfred as a small hole was created through the glass, so Arthur would be able to hear and talk to his brothers.

"Well, I'm waiting. What is it you want to talk about? Are you going to convince me to return back home or yell at me for lying to you?" Arthur asked, folding his arms with demanding eyes.

"Arthur, Spades is filled with black crystal and it hasn't disappeared, since you left. We need to find a way to undo it and you're the only one that can do that," Alfred said.

"I'm afraid I can't. You're going to have to move the kingdom somewhere else. I don't know how to undo it, Alfred. If I did, it would have already have been done. I'm sorry! You're just going to have to evacuate and move the kingdom!" Arthur cried, about to turn back.

"WAIT!" Alfred cried, running to Arthur before slipping again. " _Ouch!_ Listen, if you don't know how, then let's find out how. There has to be someone that knows about your voodoo powers or whatever. I heard that my blackout from when I was five was from your powers. Maybe that wizard that healed me can help!"

"Alfred, they're not _voodoo powers_. They're just... I don't know what they are, but I'm too dangerous to be around and I doubt he knows anything! Did you think our parents never tried to find me a teacher!? Why do you think I always locked myself in my room!? Our parents died, because they sailed out to find someone or something that could help me control my powers and died from a hurricane! I don't even know if they found anything!" Arthur shouted as tears began leaking out and Alfred just stared blankly at Arthur. "I'm sorry."

"Then, let's pick up where our parents left off. Isn't that why we're crowned? Let's continue on searching for the answers as King and Que-"

"Alfred, have you lost your godforsaken mind!? I'm not fit to be in any ruler's position! I can't and will not be the ruler of anything! I am staying away from Spades and THAT IS FINAL!" Arthur shouted as he squeezed his eyes shut, hands slamming on the wall he created. He couldn't bare to see Alfred. "Our talk is over."

"ALFRED! BLOODY HELL!" Dylan cried frantically, which made Arthur open his eyes.

"OH MY GOD!" Alfred cried in horror as he watched a patch of black crystal form on his abdomen.

"ALFRED NO! OH GOD! BLOODY HELL NO!" Arthur cried frantically as he lifted the crystal glass wall open and ran to Alfred, placing his hand on the location of the abdomen. "Don't tell me I...! Please stop! Please!" He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on the black crystal to stop them from spreading. It only slowed down the process. "No! Please no!"

"We need to get Alfred help before it spreads to his vital areas, if it hasn't already!" Dylan cried with a determined facial expression as Arthur looked up at his older brother, then nodded.

"Let's go," Arthur replied.

Arthur sat on the sled next to Alfred to keep the crystals from spreading. He held Alfred tightly, trying his hardest not to cry. He couldn't lose his little brother like this. This was too much for the black crystal prince to handle. Alfred was scared, but also worried for Arthur. He could only place his arm around Arthur to calm him down, to let him know he was still here. It was funny, because Alfred's stomach had been acting strange, but had been so anxious on getting to Arthur that he had not been paying attention to how his body was responding.

"I'm so sorry, Alfred. God, please don't do this to me," Arthur pleaded as Alfred patted his back, his expression looking pathetically sad.

"We're here! I'll go get him," Gilbert said as he was about to get off the sled.

"No, I got this!" A voice was heard nearby.

Everyone turned and saw a man with dark skin, short black hair and some whiskers around his chin. He seemed to be wearing a forest green trench coat of some sort with a hood and a white mask. There was no doubt he was the wizard that helped heal Alfred as a child. He was wearing some shoes with small spikes at the bottom to help him walk on the black crystal ground.

As soon as the wizard approached Alfred, he muttered a spell, and a purple glow surrounded the areas of black crystal. It seemed to have frozen the crystallization process, but didn't completely heal Alfred fully.

"You really did it this time, Arthur. I warned you that something like this would happen, if not treated in less than an hour," the wizard said.

"I didn't know it would do this and let's not forget that you guys never told me what happened when I was five. A bit of my history lesson would've been helpful," Alfred argued.

"We told you that you needed to have it checked!" Dylan shouted.

"You should've had him checked, whether he wanted to or not! You know how Alfred is about being reckless, you bloody arse!" Arthur shouted, punching Dylan in the stomach. "And you can tell that to the rest of you idiots!"

"Let's stop! Arguing isn't going to help solve this!" Alfred cried, then turned to the wizard. "Is there anything that can stop this from spreading?"

"It's already hit some very vital organs. I was able to stop the process for 24 hours, but after that, it will began forming and crystallize you permanently. After that, there's no healing," the wizard said sadly. "I'm sorry."

"No. There has to be a way! Please, tell me what I have to do! I'll do anything! I'll give my life of servitude! Just tell me what I need to do to save Alfred!" Arthur pleaded with the wizard, slowly sinking to his knees.

The wizard sighed, rubbing his eyebrows before replying, "your parents have tried. The place they were going to was their last hope of giving you what you sought for and they paid it with their lives. I warned them that no man has ever returned alive when going to that place. They didn't listen. At this point, Alfred has no time to go on a week long trip there. I'm sorry."

The wizard turned around and began turning back as Arthur stared blankly at the ground, then his hands. They balled into fists before punching against the black crystal ground angrily. The ground began shaking almost like an earthquake. Alfred tripped off the sled and crawled to his brother, hugging him from behind. Arthur's head perked up, then pushed Alfred away from him.

"Leave Alfred! Just go!" Arthur shouted, squeezing his eyes shut.

"Arthur..." Alfred muttered.

"I SAID LEAVE! I'M A MONSTER! I DID THIS TO YOU! YOU DON'T WANT TO BE NEAR ME! JUST LEAVE!" Arthur screamed at the top of his lungs as a black crystal dome formed around him.

"Arthur, stop this! ARTHUR!" Alfred pleaded, banging on the crystal dome. "Stop locking me out!"

Suddenly, the black crystal dome shattered into millions of peaces, each of them glowing purple. Arthur gasped at the pieces of black crystal as he slowly looked up and saw a purple glow around the hand of some sort of mysterious figure in a black cloak. There was a hint of glowing crimson eyes under the black cloak with sleeves that matched the eyes and gloves that matched the cloak.

"I'll help," this mysterious person replied. "I apologize about my old mentor. He's stubborn and has a thing about giving up, but I don't want to leave you guys like this."

"Who are you?" Dylan asked with eyes full of suspicion.

The mysterious figure took off his hood, revealing a headful of strawberry blond and a grin with fangs. He replied, "Vladimir, the vampire sorcerer. I live nearby and happened to overhear the whole thing. I know as much as Wizard Sadik and more."

"Your accent. You're from Clubs," Alfred realized.

"Was. I moved here a long time ago with my brothers. Anyways, we can talk more on the way. We don't have much time," Vladimir said, moving himself onto the sled. "First, let's go to the Kingdom of Clubs. We need to get to the island Sadik was talking about. It's the Crystal Island of Magic. It's said to be where the source of magic lies. We need to get there in less than 24 hours, which is impossible..." A smirk appeared on his lips. "unless you can fly there."

"That's right! The Kingdom of Clubs have incredible flying machines. Maybe flying one of those can get us to the Crystal Island on time!" Arthur realized with gleeful eyes.

"Dude, you're awesome!" Alfred grinned.

"No problem! Besides, I've always wanted to go on a quest. Let's get going! We've got 24 hours!" Vladimir replied excitedly.

Arthur and Alfred returned back to the sled as Gilbert signaled the dogs to move and the dogs ran themselves on their way to the Kingdom of Clubs. They all had an entire day to heal Alfred and there was no time to sit and talk. They had to keep moving. Arthur could only be thankful that there was someone that was willing to help.


	5. Balance

**I suppose there's the question why did it take so long for the black crystal to start spreading rapidly throughout Alfred's body after being struck by Arthur. I'll answer it soon or in this chapter. Review please!**

Gilbert drove the sled on its way to the Kingdom of Clubs, so they would find a flying machine that would be able to fly to the Crystal Island of Magic. Arthur folded his hands and closed his eyes as he focused on his breathing. Alfred couldn't help, but worry for Arthur. He tried placing his hand on top of Arthur's folded ones before Dylan took his hand to stop him.

 _"He's trying to calm down. His emotions are what trigger his powers,"_ Dylan whispered to where Arthur couldn't hear.

 _"What do you mean?"_ Alfred whispered back.

 _"What draws out his powers are fear and anger. He used to have better control of his powers, but once he saw the harm in using them, his control kept getting worse. We thought letting him spend time with you in the past would help, but he grew more fearful as he would create little mistakes here and there. Now that you're hurt, any sudden moves could end in catastrophe."_

Nodding, Alfred took this new information in. He looked back at Arthur, sadness showing in his eyes. For so many years, Arthur had been trying to protect him and baring the pressure and blame within himself. It must have been lonely cooped up in his own bedroom with no one to talk to or cheer him up. Keeping his powers from Alfred and Peter didn't help either. Arthur needed someone to comfort him or cheer him up.

Smirking, Alfred placed his fingers on each corner of Arthur's lips and pushed them up. By reflex, Arthur swatted Alfred's hands, his thick eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Arthur asked.

"When was the last time you smiled, Arthur? I miss it," Alfred replied as Arthur couldn't help but stare at him with blinking eyes. Alfred chuckled, showing a bright smile of his own as Arthur couldn't help but laugh. "Honestly, I have no idea. You're usually the optimistic one."

"And you're always the anti social grumpy grandpa."

"W-W... I am not! How dare you!"

"You are with those furrowed eyebrows and that scowl. They're like your trademark."

"I'm not listening to this," Arthur said, folding his arms and turning his face from Alfred.

"Co'mon, where's that smile again? Don't make me poke it out of you."

"It was cute when you were five, but you're the king now. You should have more couth than that."

Alfred slowly brings his finger to Arthur's cheek, then pokes it, saying, "poke."

"S-Stop that!" Arthur said, looking rather perturbed.

"Poke," Alfred said, lightly poking Arthur's nose.

"Alfred," Dylan sighed, shaking his head. Was this really the time to be playing around?

"Alfred, if you don't stop poking me, I'll..." Arthur glared before feeling Alfred's finger above the bridge of his nose and between his eyebrows where it wrinkled.

"Poke," Alfred said, smiling brightly.

Arthur's lips scrunched together, then a smile appeared, followed by a giggle. Dylan looked over and found himself in awe. Arthur laughed a bit, then shook his head. He took a deep breath, smiling as he looked over at Alfred.

"You're impossible... and stubborn," Arthur said.

"That makes two of us," Alfred smirked as Arthur sighed sadly, closing his eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Alfred. I wish I could be your big brother and your queen without risking harming you," Arthur said, closing his eyes as the seat he was sitting on was slowly beginning to form into black crystal. Dylan was about to say something before Alfred closed his mouth, shaking his head. Informing Arthur would only make things worse.

Alfred slowly, but carefully wrapped his arms around Arthur, knowing the risks of doing this. Arthur's eyes opened in shock as the black crystal instantly stopped spreading, and disappeared. Arthur looked back at Alfred, who patted his back.

"Hey, don't be like that. Just because you have powers, it doesn't mean you can't be my big brother or even my queen. You coop yourself in your room just because you're afraid of hurting everyone when you're really hurting yourself. I don't want you to do that anymore. It's not going to protect your powers from us."

"But I-"

"Think of good things. Like remember when you used to tell me stories?"

Arthur chuckled a bit, replying, "yes. I enjoyed it."

"I'd like to hear them again, maybe do something together after this is over. What would you like to do?"

"Alfred..."

"What would you like to do? Co'mon, there must be something in that thick, grumpy brain of yours."

 _"You're hilarious,"_ Arthur replied, rolling his eyes. "I suppose I would like to take a walk and explore the world, even the kingdom."

"That would be awesome. Maybe we can go sailing. You always loved that,"

"That I do," Arthur replied, a smile on his face as Alfred placed a hand on his. He looked down and his eyes were widened in surprise when he realized that crystals weren't forming on Alfred's hand.

"You can't be afraid to be around me, Arthur. I don't want to see you hurt yourself like that," Alfred said as Arthur nodded, showing a small smile.

"I'll try."

"Are you afraid of your magic?" Vladimir asked, who was sitting in a seat across from the three brothers.

"... yes," Arthur replied hesitantly.

"Hey listen, maybe after this, we can see if we can find someone to teach ya how to use that black crystal magic thing or something," Alfred thought as Arthur sighed.

"Do you think our parents never tried finding me a teacher?"

"Maybe they didn't look hard enough."

"It's a bit more complicated than that. The kind of magic Arthur has is incredibly rare kinda like mine. I had to self teach myself most of my life about my own magic," Vladimir explained.

"What is your magic?" Arthur asked, feeling slightly jealous that this one was a rare case too and seemed to control his magic just fine.

"Fire," Vladimir replied, then saw Arthur's expression, then grinned. "I can't control mine either. I have better control now, thanks to you. I can't burn crystal." He shot a fireball at a random structure of black crystal before some rubble fell and the ball of fire turned to nothing, but coal. "See. Normally, I'd be risking burning the entire ground or something."

"Wow, that was awesome! Do that again!" Alfred cried excitedly.

"DON'T do that again! Are you mad!?" Arthur cried with glaring eyes.

"Maybe, that's why Wizard Sadik says I have no control over my powers and wants me to stay near him at all costs. He's the only one that can put out the fires I create. It is fueled by happiness and when I get too excited, I create too much fire and it gets fueled by the landmass around it. Though, since this whole place is nothing, but crystal, I can easily stop and not worry about burning down a whole forest or city. That's why I wasn't afraid to leave Wizard Sadik, though he might kill me once I get back," Vladimir explained.

"Wonderful. But, you still should be careful. You know what they say about playing with fire."

"You're way too serious. You need to chill out. Your powers are fueled by anger and sadness right? Well, try being happy, while using it."

"It's not easy to do that when you see crystal forming all around you and turning others into crystal statues," Arthur replied, folding his arms with furrowed eyebrows. "What? Do you want me to not care that I'm killing _innocent people_?"

"Not that, but... I don't know, have you practiced using your powers?"

"I can't do that!"

"But, have you tried?"

"Of course I haven't!"

"Why not? If you don't practice, you'll never learn. Maybe you just need a playground where you can experiment with your powers without hurting anyone. I mean, you made yourself a tall freakin tower for crying out loud! Why didn't you try doing that before?"

"So, this is happening, because I decided to protect my kingdom and loved ones by NOT using my powers?" Arthur asked with eyes filled with accusing.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help. No need to go shooting darts at me," Vladimir said in defense, putting up his hands.

"I... I know... I'm just scared right now," Arthur said as his seat began forming black crystal again.

"Hm..." Vladimir replied, piercing his lips. "I want to try something." A smile came upon his lips as he held each of Arthur's hands, lacing their fingers.

"W-What?" Arthur asked, confused as he watched the flames from between each of their hands in the color purple. "Bloody hell... what are you...?"

"Pretty cool, huh?" Vladimir grinned.

"How are you doing this!? This... This is unbelievable!" Arthur asked in awe, a grin forming across his lips as the black crystal from under him disappeared once more and Vladimir took his hands from Arthur's right on time.

"It's my own little therapy I made up on my own to calm you down, though I did have to release your hands at the time your emotions shifted and my hands uncrystalized," Vladimir grinned as Arthur blinked.

"My crystal. I was crystallizing you and you used your fire to..."

"Yep."

"You really are a madman."

"You're welcome."

"But, I could've killed you and you did this anyways!? How did you know it would even work!?"

"I didn't, but I figured that my flames would create some sort of cool color. I wanted to see what it would do."

"So, you experimented and placed yourself in danger just to see if you could create some color from your fire just to make me feel better?" Arthur asked with both shock and frustration.

"Sometimes learning to control your powers means taking risks. If you don't, what's the point of living at all?" Vladimir shrugged as Arthur stared at him, not knowing how to respond to this. How could he? Ever since Arthur decided to lock himself in his room, he never really lived life at all.

Alfred couldn't help, but laugh. It seemed as though Vladimir and Arthur were able to balance each other perfectly. One was overly optimistic and the other was overly fearful and sad. They both had powers they couldn't control, due to their emotions projecting their powers and those powers getting out of hand. For Arthur, he needed someone positive to help bring him to a calm and happy state, while Vladimir needed someone to help bring him down to earth. An idea popped in Alfred's head that was just crazy enough to work.

"We're here! Welcome to the Kingdom of Clubs!" Gilbert said as they all looked around the kingdom and saw that the black crystal only reached as far as the gates and no more. Their technology was able to protect the kingdom from Arthur's crystal magic.

"Welcome home," Vladimir whispered to himself, while looking up at the gates.


	6. Kingdom of Clubs

**I was having writer's block for this chapter for a while. No worries, though. It only lasted for a short time. Review please!**

Gilbert was able to reach the gates before the guards approached him. Their eyes looked over at Alfred, who showed them the ring upon his finger, proving his royal status.

"I wish for us to be let in," Alfred said.

"What is your business?" The guard asked.

"I would like to ask King Ivan for one of his best flying machines to take me to the Crystal Island of Magic."

"And, what would your reason be for traveling to the Crystal Island of Magic?"

"That is classified only for the King's ears to hear."

The guards shared glances, then nodded. The guard replied, "we shall allow you to pass, but you will be accompanied by us."

"Of course," Alfred replied as the guards opened the gates.

Gilbert parked the sled, deciding to stay behind to watch after the dogs. Arthur stared at the kingdom that was not crystallized, then at his hands. He sighed, sitting down on a crystallized rock. Alfred noticed this, then sat next to him.

"You alright?" Alfred asked.

"I'll stay behind. I still haven't controlled my powers and if I mess up, I could ruin this kingdom too. You go on without me," Arthur said, showing a sad smile.

"Arthur, you're not putting anyone in danger. I need you with me to go to the Crystal Island of Magic."

"No, you don't. You need to do is heal and stay as far away from me as possible."

"Do you _really_ want that?" Alfred asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Of course I don't, but what choice do I have? I can't risk putting more kingdoms in danger or killing more people. Please Alfred, just leave me. It's better that way," Arthur said quietly, staring at the ground.

Alfred didn't want Arthur to stay behind. He had to think of some way to convince Arthur to come along with him without risking Arthur becoming fearful. However Alfred would do it, he had to choose his words carefully. The first thing he did was hug Arthur, much to his surprise, then patted his back.

 _"A-Alfred, don't-"_ Arthur choked as he tried to keep his hands from Alfred's body.

"Arthur, just relax. Don't think about it. Think about me, think about Mom and Dad, don't think about anything else," Alfred pleaded.

Alfred couldn't take anymore of this fear Arthur held in his heart that prevented them from sharing a simple hug. He needed Arthur to not be afraid to grow close to his family. If Alfred was knocking on Death's door, then he would gladly greet Death with open arms. Squeezing his eyes tightly, he felt those two hands finally accepting his hug. Arthur sighed with a relaxing smile forming upon his lips.

" _There, there,"_ Alfred whispered, patting Arthur's back. "Listen, if you want to stay behind, then do so, but I don't want you to stay behind. I want you to be by my side 'till the end. If you want that, then follow me. Vladimir will be there - you saw how he handled you when your powers started to show, Dylan will be there and I will be there, three people that will help drown your fears. Please, no more running away and locking yourself up. You're already doing so well. Let's keep moving forward."

"Alfred..."

"Arthur..."

Arthur sighed, then parted as he looked at Alfred with saddened eyes. Alfred was right, Arthur wanted to stick with him all the way through just in case these might be the last moments they have together. In fact, Arthur wanted to be with his family more than anything. The only problem was the Kingdom of Clubs. Arthur was a Trojan Horse. Once he entered the kingdom, the crystal would burst from his body and could spread throughout the kingdom. He couldn't risk it. He was too afraid to.

"Hey, not to try to ruin a beautiful moment here, but I've got something that will help. How I see it, you want to come along, but you don't want to turn Clubs into Black Crystal Land, right?" Vladimir asked with his usual grin.

"Yes. You have something that can help?" Arthur asked with slightly widened eyes.

"It helps me. Here," Vladimir said, getting out a small box of colorful candy that were all round.

"How the bloody hell do those help?" Arthur asked with glaring eyes. Vladimir whispered something in his ear as his eyebrows slowly began raising. He furrowed his eyebrows at Vladimir with surprise. "Really?" The fire magician grinned excitedly, while nodding. A smile formed upon Arthur's lips and Arthur ate the candy. "Thanks." He looked at Alfred with a huge grin on his face. "Well, let's go!"

Alfred smiled, and followed Arthur, but not before going to Vladimir and asking in a whisper, _"what's that candy do?"_

 _"Helps calm the nerves, but I also added in that it can help control his powers,"_ Vladimir replied in a whisper.

 _"So, you lied to him."_

 _"Not really. It does help calm the nerves and if his nerves are calm, so will his powers."_

 _"... I see."_

Arthur, Alfred, Vladimir and Dylan entered through the gates. Dylan was surprised to see Arthur being all smiles. He looked back at Alfred, who just shrugged. Vladimir only grinned as Dylan gave him a suspicious look. The older brother smelled a rat and he didn't trust it. He only hoped it wouldn't end in this Kingdom's downfall.

The four men appeared before the very large castle that was forest green with the Clubs symbol over the entrance. The double doors to the palace opened and before them was the King of Clubs himself. Ivan stood in his green royal clothes, scepter and crown. He looked to the four men, then smiled brightly as Vladimir knelt before the king, while the other four just nodded their heads, being they were of royal status. The nod was a more informal bow and only to be used among those of royal status or lovers.

"Good day," Alfred spoke.

"Good day to you too, Fredka. I must say, this is unexpected for you to come here at this time. I apologize for not attending your coronation. I heard things were very... trippy, da," Ivan said with his bright smile, though showed a slight smirk.

While informality was common for royalty toward each other, nicknames were not. They were only held for the special kind. Some of royalty that have grown up, since children, will tend to give each other cute nicknames to symbolize their bond. Though, others will use nicknames out of mockery to show their rivalry. Because the nicknames were often used to symbolize close friendships, it is sometimes hard to tell if it means friendship or rivalry. Those like Arthur and the king of Diamonds, Francis, were more common, being they always argued. Alfred and Ivan were harder to read if they were friends or rivals. At times, they would fight and at other times, they would laugh and have dinner together.

Alfred sighed, then said, "whatever, let's cut to the chase. I didn't come here to talk about my coronation or your attendance."

"You are here to seek help for your people?" Ivan asked with curious eyes.

"Yes and no. Help would be nice, but I'm actually here to ask for one of your flying machines to take us to the Crystal Island of Magic."

Ivan furrowed his eyebrows, then replied, "come inside."

Vladimir got up, and the four men followed the king inside. Once the doors were closed, Ivan turned to face them with a serious expression, his eyes pointing at Arthur. Arthur felt those eyes try to burrow into his soul, threaten him. His green eyes stared back at Ivan with threat as a small and confident smirk appeared in those lips. He would not let Ivan terrorize him.

"Just a word of advise, it is unwise for a king to make such threatening eyes against another king's future queen, especially one like myself," Arthur said as Ivan's eyes widened in surprise with risen eyebrows.

"Ah, my apologies. I did not know Fredka was already choosing a queen," Ivan replied brightly, then turned to Alfred with the threatening eyes toward him this time. "Why do you choose Arthur?"

"That is not your concern... yet," Alfred replied, sighing. "Anyways, you seem to be aware of Arthur's condition."

"The kings and queens of all four kingdoms know. We also are aware of the one responsible for the black crystals forming in your kingdom and putting it in ruins," Ivan says in an emotionless tone.

"I want to continue where our parents left off and risked their lives for. My kingdom is at stake and we don't have time to take a days long boat ride. We need a flying machine that can get us to that island in less than 12 hours."

"And, you intend that it will be a safe journey?" Ivan asked, laughing mockingly. "Your parents were foolish. They attempt to sail across the sea to an island that is always covered by fog. What makes you think a flying machine will help you or make the journey any safer?"

"I've seen what you have done with the hot air balloon!" Vladimir said, stepping forward.

Ivan rose his eyebrows at Vladimir, then smiled brightly, greeting, "hello, old friend. How is your training? Have you been producing less _accidents_?"

"Sorta, look, we'll speak about that later. Spades is in trouble and my lord needs your help. I've lived in your kingdom under your kingship. I have seen and built such devices and you want to tell us that no one has built ones that are as safe or safer than sailing a mighty ship? Forgive me for my ignorance, but I think you underestimate your builders. They are great and have made mighty ships that have stayed afloat from icebergs, weapons that pierce through the strongest metal and flying machines that can safely take six men to all four kingdoms before sunset. You cannot convince me you have no flying machine that can take us to the Crystal Island of Magic."

"You also were a fool. That has not changed."

"Have you forgotten who it was that invented these flying machines?" Vladimir asked with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

Ivan chuckled slightly, then replied, "a foolish man with foolish dreams."

"And yet, you rule the only kingdom with the best flying machines in all the Suits."

"You are correct," Ivan said, then sighed. "Very well, I will not promise you anything, but me providing such a machine will also depend on the cost."

"How much will it cost to make a hot air balloon that can take us to the Crystal Island of Magic in less than 12 hours?" Arthur asked skeptically.

"Unfortunately, while the Club's hot air balloons are fast enough for safe travel to all four Suits in less than 12 hours, to travel to an island filled with fog is dangerous. The balloons rely on heat and the fog on that island is full of moist heat. The hot air balloon will fall as soon as it hits the fog and crash," Ivan replied factually.

"Are there other fuel sources to use, besides heat?" Arthur asked.

"There's steam, but it has just as much moist heat as the fog itself."

"What if the basket of the hot air balloon was also a boat?" Vladimir asked, rubbing his chin.

"A boat?" Ivan asked with blinking eyes.

"Yes. By the time we get to the fog, the island will just be a short distance away anyways, right? So, we just need to sail there. Maybe we just need a hot air balloon that can change into a sail boat for safe landing on water. Could that be made?"

Ivan furrowed his eyebrows, lost in his thinking. Alfred noticed something between Ivan and Vladimir. There was no doubt these two have known each other for a long time, but there were times they acted more like coeworkers than king and subordinate. Ivan looked up, then nodded.

"I will talk to my Queen and Jack. I will get back to you with the results and price. For now, you may stay," Ivan replied.

"You have our greatest thanks!" Alfred replied excitedly.

"BUT..." Ivan started as everyone looked up. "I have a few questions. First, will Arthur be a danger to my kingdom?"

Arthur felt that fear crawling in him again and began eating that candy. Alfred couldn't answer, being he had just discovered Arthur's powers. Dylan sighed, knowing he was the only person that knew Arthur's limitations with his powers. He stepped forward before a hand was placed in front of him. Arthur looked to his older brother, signally that he could handle this himself. He looked back at Ivan, and looked him in the eye.

"My powers are dangerous, but I do not wish to bring danger to your kingdom. My powers are fueled by fear. I've been suppressing for the sake of my brother, but if you feel my presence is too huge of a risk, I will walk myself outside these walls without hesitation. That being said, I wish to stay with my king. I wish to travel to the island to help control my powers, but also for my king. During his coronation, my powers have infected him and though Wizard Sadik's magic we were given a 24 hour grace period. If we do not make it there, Alfred may die," Arthur explained as Ivan's eyes grew both sorrowful and surprised. He nodded.

"Hm... You may wait outside my kingdom, if you wish, but I will not make you go. Thank you for your honesty."

"You're welcome and thank you," Arthur replied.

Ivan left the courtroom as the four men sighed in relief. Arthur ate another candy, smiling. He looked at Vladimir, saying, "these really do work, don't they?"

"They do. Though, don't give a couple of candy balls all the credit. It's only good at easing your nerves, because of the chocolate. The rest is all in self control. They're your powers and ultimately _you_ control them, not the candy," Vladimir replied as Arthur stared at him in wonder.

"You mean they really are just..."

"Yep. You really need to have a little more faith in yourself," Vladimir replied, showing a small smirk.

"You tricked me!"

"So you can come out of your shell. You wouldn't have known you could have self control, if you had been left behind."

Arthur didn't have any response to this. He sighed, then stared at the ground. He then asked, "and, what if something happens and what happened in Spade happens here? I could kill someone by just a touch."

"Then, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Ivan wouldn't be a happy camper, if Clubs crystalized, but you can't tell me you can't do it unless you try. A baby cannot learn to walk unless he stands. Sure, he may fall, but when he falls, he gets back up. As long as you still live, this fight isn't over and the only thing you can do is keep fighting or wait long enough for the fir-crystals to consume everything in its path.

Arthur blinked, never expecting an answer like that. Vladimir was right yet again. He sighed, then nodded. Running away and locking himself up never did him any good, so it was time he stopped. It was time to face the music and keep moving forward. It was as Vladimir said, the fight isn't over and the only thing Arthur can do is fight.

"We should probably get something to eat for now," Dylan said as Arthur sighed, then nodded. They all needed a break.


	7. The king and his queen

**Hey guys! Sorry this took a long time for me to update. I've been busy with responsibilities and yada yada yada. Anyways, hope you like. Review please!**

Arthur was relieved he was given time to himself. He was given a guest room specifically for royal status. It was huge, filled with green and gold colors, along with club decorations on the sheets, walls and curtains. There was a door that connected to Arthur's and Alfred's room, being that Arthur was considered Queen, even if it wasn't official yet. Both rooms shared a single balcony and restroom, located at the corner of the balcony.

Alfred was busy in his room, while Arthur was on the balcony, sitting down at the table with his tea. At the moment, he was wearing dark blue trousers, a slightly lighter blue waistcoat over a white buttoned shirt and a black neck ruffle collar that matched his dress shoes. Arthur could only stare up at the fluffy white clouds, trying to relax his mind. Time was ticking, but he knew if he didn't calm down, he could risk the lives of this kingdom that was already trying to protect its people from his damage. Though, that was easier said than done. He didn't know how long it would take before he broke.

Two gloved hands took a hold of Arthur's hand that was not holding his cup. Arthur's eyes slowly rose to meet Alfred's eyes that were filled with worry. Arthur's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"This wouldn't have happened, if you would have listened to me," Arthur stated plainly.

"I know... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pushed you," Alfred spoke.

"You shouldn't have made me your Queen!" Arthur glared with emotion in his voice.

Alfred's expression showed that he disagreed with Arthur strongly, but chose to hold back, probably to not push his emotions farther than they already have gone. He could see that Alfred disagreed with him, then humphed, gazing his eyes toward the scenery. Alfred took a deep breath, then placed his other hand around Arthur's hand he was holding.

"Remember the story you told about the King saving his Queen from turning into ice?" Alfred asked Arthur, whose eyes returned back to him.

"Yes. I'm surprised you remember it."

"I remember all your stories. You said that the King loved the Queen very much, but they weren't married and the Queen was a man. What was the Queen to the King?"

"I don't know. It never says. Why does it matter? It's just a children's tale that was probably changed through time or something. I'm sure the story was originally different, probably was a love story," Arthur stated, rolling his eyes.

"But, why weren't they lovers? If they weren't lovers, what were they? Cousins? In-laws?"

"Why does it matter!? It's just a story!" Arthur asked, almost shouting with irritation.

"I just want to know... There must be a reason why the King loved his Queen so much that he would fight the ice demon by himself. According to the story, the King tried everything in his power to save his Queen. What was it he tried and why didn't he think of fighting the Ice Demon to begin with? Was he too afraid and why wait until his Queen was dying?"

"Alfred, i-" Arthur said, stopping himself, then closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He opened his eyes to speak in a normal tone. "Love is hard to distinguish, even love among friends and family. Sometimes... you don't know how you truly feel about someone... until..." His lips seem to quiver, his voice breaking.

"Until what?"

"Until they stop breathing..." Arthur replied in a soft voice, silence being heard for those few seconds before he lifted his face. "until their heart stops beating... until their skin grows cold... to feel that warmth slowly leave the body. You don't need to be romantically involved to be so in love that you can't possibly live without him."

Alfred smiled slightly, asking, "is that how you feel about me?"

"Oh god, Alfred. Of course that's how I feel," Arthur broke, tears streaming down his cheeks as Alfred held him, giving him a shoulder to weep those bitter tears on. At this moment, he no longer could hold back and knew that if there was any fear he held that could crystallize this kingdom, the damage would already have been done. Surprisingly, no crystallization was formed, though Arthur wouldn't notice it and figured that maybe it was because of Wizard Sadik's magic.

"There there," Alfred said softly, patting Arthur's back with a soft smile.

"Don't you bloody coddle me like some child scared of the Boogieman," Arthur snapped, not stopping more tears from flowing. "I watched you almost die once and I'm going to watch you die for real this time and there's nothing I can do to stop it. The worst part is that it will be all my fault. I'm scared. I've been scared, since that day I almost killed you, though you don't bloody remember. I took away most of our precious memories together, almost made you brain dead."

Alfred looked down at Arthur, then gently brushed through his blond locks. Alfred whispered, _"tell me what happened."_

Arthur sniffed, then started, "we were playing. You were five at least. You always enjoyed the sculptures I created from my black crystals. You'd climb on them, because they were strong. Sometimes, I'd create armor for you and you'd use it to play Knights and Sword Fight. I'd create armor, swords and shields for us and we'd play Sword Fight. At the time, I didn't realize that I could hurt you. One day, you were climbing on one of my pillars I made from crystals, then happened to slip from bad footing. In order to try to save you, I tried making an extra footing for you, but I crystallized your foot instead." He paused for a while, his eyes widen in fear. "You were so scared. You screamed that your foot was hurting, begging me to get rid of it. I cried, yelling that I didn't know how as you were crystallizing incredibly fast. I screamed as loud as I could, trying so hard to keep the crystals from spreading. It already had reached your neck and you were hardly breathing. I could see you were suffocating and your living flesh turned blue. I couldn't stop my fears as the crystals began filling your entire face before Wizard Sadik came and stopped the crystallization, but by the time, it already reached your lungs, heart and everything, except your major parts of your brain." More tears poured from Arthur's face, burying his face in Alfred's chest. "He said that he could bring back everything I crystalized, because they were emendable, but... your brain cells could not be saved, the ones I destroyed... w-we had to watch as you struggled with learning simple things like speech, reading, math and other things. You also struggled processing memory when you once had photographic memory."

"I had photographic memory?" Alfred asked with deep shock, laughing. "I can't even remember what happened yesterday."

"And, it's all my fault!" Arthur cried as Alfred blinked. "I destroyed everything! I almost destroyed you! I watched you turn into cold, hard black crystal! Your heart no longer beating, you no longer breathing, your face filled with pure terror, I thought you were dead and the worst part...!" His arms were shaking and no longer could hold his weeping sobs. "I wanted to die! I no longer cared to live and if you die right now, my life will feel meaningless, because god damnit, I love you Alfred! I've loved you, since the day you were born! That's why I always told you that story of the King and the love he shared with his Queen!" There was a moment pause, Arthur pouring out all his heart and emotions he held back for so long. "I want you to know the love I feel about you, Alfred. I want you to know how far I will go to keep you safe. You always asked me why the Queen was a male and if he and the King were lovers. Alfred, I have never met a woman that stole my heart in my life and I'll be damned if I do, but the moment I saw you turn to black crystal was the moment I learned what love really was. It was the first time I wished for my death. That's what love feels like, Alfred. You don't need to meet a significant other and fall in love to know what love is. From the day you were born, I fell in love at the first sight of you. Every moment we're together, I feel happier than ever. When you hold me or take my hand, I feel warm. When you die, I feel like dying. I don't need a romantic interest to feel that."

"Just like I don't need my romantic interest to be my queen. I can't remember, I was an infant, but I know I felt the same when I first met you. There's never a time I never loved you, Arthur. I've never been closer with anyone, never shared secrets with anyone else. I... don't know what it feels like to fall in love, but I've always loved you and wanted to be close to you. Though, as time passed, you kept running from and avoiding me. I can't trust or depend on anyone else to keep me in check. I need someone that's been there for me, since the day I was born. I may find someone I romantically love, but I want to keep close to the people I love and loved since forever. I don't want to lose these precious moments. I may never get them back," Alfred said, gripping Arthur's hand tighter.

"Alfred..."

"What's going to happen when I find someone I love and want to marry? When I have my first child? Are you going to run? What's going to happen when I grow old with my lover and die with her? Are you going to just watch me leave and be glad that I left you? Will you be truly glad I'm safe from your powers with no memories we can share together?"

"..."

"And, then there is your future. Are you going to find someone to spend the rest of your life with? Do you plan to have children? If neither, do you plan on living the rest of your life alone? How will you take care of yourself, if I'm alive and you're in that crystal tower with no one to talk to, but yourself until you go crazy? Are you going to live your life alone for so long that you will have more to be afraid of more than just turning me into a marble statue?"

"..."

"If I die from this, I want to die knowing that I have spent precious memories with you and I want you to keep learning to control yourself. I want you to see this lifetime as an example to not run away anymore. I want you to learn more about your powers, so that you can live. I don't want to lose you like this. I don't want to lose you, alone and blaming yourself for something you can't control. You can't waste your life away, because you didn't use your failures to move forward. You have people that love you and they deserve more than you're giving them, not just me, but Dylan, Alistair, Patrick and Peter. Are you going to leave them, if I don't make it through this?"

"..."

"Well?"

"I'm sorry. I've been acting selfish," Arthur apologized in a hush tone.

"I'm sorry too. Can you forgive me?"

"I don't think I can't," Arthur replied, letting out a chuckle, wiping his tears. "Vladimir is busy with King Ivan, so for the time being, I suppose we can focus on Negotiations. You hardly can bargain with anyone and your memories are atrocious."

"There's the bossy, stuck-up jerk I know and love," Alfred grinned excitedly.

"Oh, shut it," Arthur replied, getting up from his seat, then making his way to Alfred's room. "Now, where are those documents?" Alfred followed Arthur into his room, seeing his older brother digging through the drawers. "Bloody hell, what is this!? Your drawers are full of fan mail and there are bills and appointments everywhere on the desk! Also, what the hell is this doing here!?" He showed a picture of Francis in a bikini.

"It's an invite to his-" Alfred said, before the picture was torn in pieces, then thrown in his face.

"It's rubbish! Get rid of it. Also, this is rubbish, this is rubbish, this has nothing to do with our kingdom, do you even know what this is?" Arthur said, crumpling up each paper and tearing them into pieces before throwing them in the garbage. Then, he pulled out something round and lacy that looked like a sheep.

"It looked like a coaster for my coffee," Alfred said.

"It's a doily, you idiot! I'm cleaning house when we get back, you bloody pack rat. Did you seriously bring all of these for our one day trip?"

"You never know when you might need it."

"Bollocks!"

Alfred laughed, relieved and glad that he got his older brother back. This was the very reason why he needed Arthur to be his queen. He knew how to keep Alfred in check and organize everything. He'd be a bit bossy, but Alfred missed that more than Arthur would ever know.

* * *

"This looks perfect!" Vladimir stated excitedly as Ivan giggled. They were both in front of a metal basket, connected to wires that were connected to an unaired balloon.

"So, it is," Ivan replied, who was currently wearing a dark green T-shirt and jeans that were stained with black grease. He also wore black working gloves. Vladimir was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and black pants with gray gloves. "It is nice working with you again."

"Yeah, before I became hellfire of the kingdom. Of course, that was when Elizabetha was King. Man, glad she stepped down."

"If she heard you, you would have pan to head."

"Pfft, she's just angry, because I was always one step ahead of her over everything."

"She is concerned for you, you know. We were once coworkers and we were her best inventors."

"We were just crazy enough to prove that a man could fly," Vladimir smirked, then chuckled. "Of course, you were the one that came up with the blue prints."

"Hmph, not that Father would recognize it. I was embarrassing prince that rebelled against his duties," Ivan spoke sadly, looking toward the metal basket that was light enough for flight, but strong enough to protect passengers from rough waters, flying birds and storms. "I was doomed from beginning."

"No, Ivan, you are much more than anyone will ever know. Elizabetha made the mistake of not following her dream, but you were willing to follow all the way through no matter your status. As King, don't let your duties keep you from giving up on your dream. Work hard and always keep your mind wide open."

Ivan sighed, then spoke, while his eyes were closed, "Arthur needs you. You're only one crazy enough to not give up on him when things get rough. Wizard Salik goes by books, but Arthur needs someone that doesn't."

"Arthur goes by the books too. He's afraid to take chances otherwise. I can train him, but he will need Alfred more than me. There's something about Alfred. I think he's the one keeping Arthur from crystallizing this kingdom."

"You think so?" Ivan asked, tilting his head and showing curious eyes.

"Definitely," Vladimir smirked.

"Interesting."


	8. The Flying Machine

**I've had trouble with what to do for this next chapter. I know what is going to happen, but it was all about "how to get there." I also want to introduce Elizabetha and other characters, so we can understand the characters and the world in this story. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. Review please!**

Arthur had been cleaning and organizing Alfred's desk where his documents and important papers were. After this, he began looking at each of them with a critical eye. There was a wastebasket full of crumpled or torn paper that he considered to be _rubbish_. Alfred was able to join in and talk with Arthur about those papers and documents, while also sharing ideas of what to do for the Kingdom of Spades. Arthur was so critical that he forgot about Alfred's crystallization problem. Arthur was completely focused on searching for the small print that Alfred overlooked or thought would be important. Sometimes Arthur forgot how gullible Alfred could be.

There was a knock at the door, which made the two brothers turn their heads toward the door.

"Come in!" Alfred called as the Queen of Clubs, Elizabetha opened the door with her friendly personality and smile.

"Hello, your highnesses. Sorry to bother you, but this man claims to have came with you," Elizabetha said, pulling Gilbert by the ear.

"Ow! Ow! Hey! You don't have to pull that hard, Lizzy!" Gilbert complained.

"Lizzy?" Alfred smirked.

"Yes, he's our driver. Gilbert, what the bloody hell are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be outside of the gate?" Arthur asked with a bored expression.

"I was getting bored, so I decided to sneak in. The sled is parked in the palace garage. I thought I'd visit some old friend- yah ow! Cut it out! They said I was with them! Ow!" Gilbert complained as Elizabetha glared slightly deeper at him, then grinned lovingly at the King and his to-be Queen.

"Should I release the Joker?" Elizabetha asked.

"Yes, please," Alfred replied as Elizabetha released Gilbert's ear. Gilbert shot Elizabetha a glare, while rubbing his ear.

"God, this is why I hate royalty. No respect at all!" Gilbert complained.

"Visiting friends my arse. You're originally from the Kingdom of Hearts, not Clubs!" Arthur stated.

"HA! Just because I was raised in Hearts doesn't mean I don't have friends outside of Hearts. Jokers go everywhere!"

"For diplomatic affairs and I don't see how you barging into my room is _diplomatic_ in the least!" Elizabetha shouted as Alfred let out a chuckle, while Arthur facepalmed.

"Hey, if not for me, you wouldn't be wearing that crown. You wouldn't have even been King!" Gilbert smirked smugly.

"I appreciate what you did, 12 times, but you still can't barge in my room without knocking," Elizabetha replied, poking Gilbert's chest on her last ten words.

"Co'mon! You know you love me! I'm so awesome, all the royals love me!" Gilbert shouted into the heavens before being hit over the head with a frying pan.

"That's me showing my _love_ to you, darling."

"The King of Hearts won't be happy, if he finds out his brother got killed by his own stupidity, Joker," Arthur spoke bluntly.

"Geez, everyone's a critic. I'm too awesome for critics!" Gilbert grinned, while rubbing his head.

"Where is Eevan?" Elizabetha asked Alfred. The funny thing about royalties were the fact that many of them were so informal that they were allowed to call each other whatever names they wanted or even tease each other in public. Each informality differed from each kingdom.

"Him and Vladimir are building us a flying machine that can get us to the Crystal Island of Magic," Alfred replied as Elizabetha raised her two eyebrows.

"Back to building? He hasn't done that since- wait, Vladimir? HE'S BACK!?" Elizabetha asked with widened eyes.

"Didn't your messengers inform you that he arrived with us?" Arthur asked.

"I thought they were talking about a guard or Joker, not the fire breather, Vlad! He was not supposed to return here until he was done with his lessons with Wizard Sadik from the Kingdom of Spades!" Elizabetha replied with glaring eyes.

"Mean no disrespect, but this is _kinda_ the middle of life and death. He's the only one that can repel Arthur's crystal magic when he's in his panic mode," Alfred explained as Elizabetha's expression turned to shock, her eyes looking at Arthur with sympathy.

"I see," she sighed, closing her eyes. "I'll go check on the duo and hope that Vlad isn't setting the lab on fire... again."

"May I join you? I've also discovered that my crystal doesn't burn from fire," Arthur asked as Elizabetha faced him with a smile.

"If it would help. Though, I would like my kingdom to not turn into a crystal dungeon. You know what will happen, if it does," Elizabetha replied with gleeful, but serious eyes.

"I wouldn't even dare," Arthur promised, showing a small smirk as Elizabetha giggled, guiding him to the location of the lab. "How is your husband doing? I'm sure you've stirred up controversy with being the first Queen to be married to a Jack."

"He's doing well. I have not regretted my decision and no, no one really cares about whom I'm married to. Since when has marriage been a problem with us royals?"

"Probably since you went from being King to Queen. Wow, what a way to level up," Gilbert smirked.

"Another comment from the peanut gallery and I'll have another pan to your head."

"Ugh, again with the panning."

"Though, royals marrying each other is becoming increasingly rare, especially with a Jack. Still, a very interesting turnout," Arthur said as Elizabetha showed a smirk.

Everyone walked inside the lab, located at the back of the palace that would've looked like a nuclear plant on the outside. Elizabetha opened the door, noticing a very large flying machine that looked almost like a metal hot air balloon with no basket at the bottom, but a round ball. There were also small propellers on each side that were the size of two bowling balls. Ivan was working beside the contraption, while Vladamir was upside down, hanging by his legs, from the exoskeleton of the inside of the balloon. The balloon itself was not yet placed in and Vladimir looked like he was working on the inside of a big round object that would provide heat and air to the balloon. It was connected to the inside of the big round ball where the passengers would enter inside.

"Ah, Liz, you have come just in time," Ivan said with a childish smile across his face.

"You forgot to inform the messengers to include _this_ idiot being invited," Elizabetha mentioned, giving Gilbert an annoyed grimace.

"He was not. Shall I kick him out?"

"Now, now, let's not be hasty. I mean you can't just force me into that crystal infested area where everything like food and water have been turned into black crystal. I mean... gotta live, you know what I'm sayin'?" Gilbert said, showing a bead of sweat on the side of his head.

"No, I don't."

"Co'mon, I'm a Joker for crying out loud! You wouldn't even be king, if it weren't for me!"

"You were of good use then, but not currently."

"Seriously!?"

Alfred couldn't hold back a laugh, saying, "You know how Ivan is. He enjoys a good trolling. Why do you think we butt heads?"

"So far, I have been proven right. Magic cannot be controlled, but machines can," Ivan replied, showing a hint of smugness.

"Just because something is difficult to control, doesn't mean it can't. Once Arthur learns to control his magic, he'll be the most powerful Queen that will make every Queen cry in shame," Alfred smirked, then nervously turned his eyes at Elizabetha. "Uh... no offense."

"Non taken..." Elizabetha replied with a sweet smile before her eyes turned dark for a second. _"Non taken."_ Alfred gulped.

"Let's ignore your foolish rivalry. How is the contraption coming along?" Arthur asked, looking up at Vladmir.

"It's lookin' good! Also, since my training with Wizard Sadik, I have better control of my powers when it comes to making contraptions," Vladimir grinned, showing his index finger, which he used to melt metal with his fire powers.

"The last time you did that foolishness, you set the whole castle on fire or did you already forget!?" Elizabetha shouted with warning in her eyes.

"I got this, Liz! You have nothing to- yah!" Vladimir bragged before his leg slipped, then began to fall head-first toward the top of the big fall.

Vladimir gasped when he saw a large, smooth crystal plate that was big enough for him to land on. He blew a jet of fire with his hands to turn his body, and fall bottom-first before landing. It hurt, but not enough to break a bone.

"Ack! I guess that wasn't the best fall or landing experience, but see, I got this!" Vladimir grinned, then noticed everyone's expressions were not staring at him and were full of shock. "Uh... did I miss something?"

Everyone was staring at Arthur, whose eyes were focused on the black crystal platform holding Vladimir and preventing his, what could've been, very painful fall. It was floating in midair, then slowly floated in the middle of the group. Vladimir got up on his hands and knees, then walked off the platform, looking around and seeming confused. It was as if he was oblivious to what had just happened. Some even questioned if Vladimir was aware of _what just happened_.

"Um... impulse," Arthur replied nervously.

"Dude, that was awesome! You say you have trouble controlling your powers and yet you can do _that_!" Alfred cried gleefully.

"My powers are controlled by emotions. The more of those emotions I have like fear and anger, the more powerful they become. When Vladimir fell, I felt a wave of fear and used it to create that platform. Me preventing his fall is my way of controlling my fear or it would be hard to do so," Arthur explained, glaring at his hand. He sighed. "How long will it be before that contraption is done?"

"It should be for another thirty minutes," Vladimir replied, showing an optimistic grin. "You've got nothing to worry about."

"Good. In the meantime, try not to do jackass stuff like that. It... It scares me," Arthur replied.

"Got it. Got it. Crystal can't be put out with water. Say, in the meantime, how about you guys pack some lunches or something? We'll get everything done in a jiffy," Vladimir suggested as Arthur sighed, rolling his eyes.

"I suppose it will be settling," Arthur replied, walking on his way out the door with Alfred catching up.

"No cooking!" Alfred shouted, following Arthur out the door.

"Our biggest threat to our kingdom," Elizabetha said, kneeling at the black crystal platform Arthur created to save Vladimir. She noticed her reflection on the smooth platform. She stared at it with skepticism as Ivan took out a chisel and hammer, grinning manically as he began to chisel the black crystal.


	9. Fly Away

**Here is the next chapter! I get the feeling this story is going to be shorter than I expected. Either way, more interesting things are starting to take place. Review please!**

Meanwhile, in the Kingdom of Spades, the Jack Zao was guarding the outside of the kingdom, while Alistair and Patrick took charge of the inside of the kingdom. It was still crystallized, so food was scarce. Peter provided blankets and food donated to the Spade's citizens by their neighbors Kingdom of Diamonds. Luckily, despite King Francis' episode over Arthur's magic, he was more than willing to help out the kingdom until the whole ordeal was resolved. The Diamonds were considered Spade's biggest rival, but at times like these, they had to put their rivalry aside. It wasn't to say that King Francis would willingly scrape this ordeal under the rug.

King Francis of Diamonds walked to Alistair, who was busy writing some paperwork that hadn't been crystallized. Some things were not touched by Arthur's crystallization, thanks to Spade's most talented wizards placing protective charms over important documents and emergency previsions. Though, not all of them were saved and it was unknown how long they would feed everyone before this problem was resolved.

"It has been 12 hours. How long must the king continue to favor his brother before realizing he is unfit?" King Francis questioned.

"I don't know! His majesty isn't one to plan things ahead like the previous one. He didn't even plan for this to happen, which admittedly is our fault for not informing him on Prince Arthur's _problem_ ," Alistair replied.

"Oh? So, been keeping Arthur's dirty little secret from the king? Wouldn't that be considered treason?" Francis asked with a sly smirk.

"It would be, except he _just_ became king this morning. According to our laws, we haven't reached the time limit of informing our king any classified information we have for it to be considered treasonous and, just so you know, we scheduled a set date for his majesty to look over all classified information INCLUDING Arthur's powers. Unfortunately, it happened during the day of the party and we didn't prepare for it."

"You shouldn't be containing a monster. It's only a matter of time before he escapes."

"So, you have the moral high ground to be judging me brother over having been born with powers!? He doesn't know how to control them, you idjit! Maybe you should focus on things that matter and leave me brother out of it!" Alistair shouted, his accent leaking when his temper was hot.

"He's the one putting your kingdom in jeopardy, is he not? He'll be putting my people in jeopardy too, so, it is my problem!"

The doors suddenly opened. King Francis and Prince Alistair turned their heads and saw Wizard Sadik and two of his pupils that were former citizens of Clubs. Alistair walked passed King Francis, not wanting to deal with him, to talk to the wizard.

"My Prince, I have News on the King and his behalf," Wizard Sadik replied.

"Spill," Alistair replied.

"It seems Prince Arthur has crystallized his majesty, by accident, at the heart. I was able to stop it for 24 hours, now 12 hours, but after that he will become crystallized."

"What!?"

"What did I tell you!? This is all your fault and your secrecy! Had your parents banished your so called _brother_ , non of us would be in jeopardy!" King Francis replied, understandably upset.

"Don't worry, big brother will help him!" The younger pupil cried optimistically.

"Ciprian," the older pupil whispered.

"What was that, youngin?" Alistair asked the younger pupil.

"Big brother is a powerful wizard! He joined with the king and queen to go to the Crystal Island of Magic!" Ciprian cried out.

" _Except_ , it's impossible to go there in less than 24 hours, let alone 12, if they have started on their way already," Wizard Sadik corrected.

"Big brother knows! He's built flying machines that can go faster than a beast!"

"Little one, it's not that simple. Even if King Ivan was to allow Vladimir in to build a flying contraption, there is still that heated fog that will make it crash on the island. It's impossible."

"You're wrong! I believe in big brother! He will save the king!"

"Sounds like the little one has one strong will," Alistair smirked, impressed. "What magic does your pupil, Vladimir, do?"

"He has power over the flames. His lack of control has placed him under my care. His brothers also have powers of their own. Alec can control ice and Ciprian can control the mind. Both strong gifts, but also are curses as well. I keep their powers in check as long as they stand by me, so that their curses won't harm living souls," Wizard Sadik replied.

"So, once Vladimir leaves your pack, he will be as big of a danger as the future queen?" King Francis asked with a sleepish smile.

"Unfortunately... I wish Vladimir wasn't so stubborn."

Alistair nodded, then turned to Alec. "Do you believe Vladimir will help our king arrive at the Crystal Island?" The Prince asked.

Alec was taken aback, looking down at Ciprian, who held bright and hopeful eyes. Then, he looked at Wizard Sadik, who quietly shook his head. He replied, "I do. Vladimir is reckless, but when he wants something done, he will stop at nothing to achieve it no matter how impossible it may seem."

Alistair turned to Wizard Sadik, saying, "your pupils believe in their brother and I believe in mine. Perhaps you should learn to have a little more faith in those you teach or else how will you expect to have faith in your own teachings?"

"Y... Yes... Sire," Wizard Sadik replied in a mutter.

"And you should learn to keep your mouth shut, Francis. We have people to care for and point blaming without knowing what is to come is simply shameful, even for you. DISMISSED!" Alistair replied before leaving the room with a glaring King Francis and a doubtful Wizard Sadik.

* * *

"And, that would be the last of it!" Vladimir grinned optimistically, placing the last of the luggage needed for the trip.

"Why am _I_ staying behind!?" Gilburt complained.

"One, we need someone that can ride back to the kingdom and provide an update to what's going on to my brothers. Two, as a Joker, you are not to leave any of the kingdoms to settle diplomatic issues," Dylan replied plainly.

"Oh co'mon!"

"THREE, this contraption is only made to hold four people at maximum. One of us will have to stay behind. I can't, because my brothers want at least one of us to protect the king. Arthur can't, because he needs to go to the Island to learn to control his powers. Alfred can't, because he will be crystallized within 12 hours. Vladimir can't, because aside from being the only one that knows how to control this thing, he's the only one that can help bring Arthur's powers under control in case he has another episode and the last thing we need is for this contraption to go down, because it's crystallized from one of Arthur's panic attacks. That leaves you."

"Fine. I'll go tell their majesties that they're brothers are on a race against time to get to the islands and hopefully not crash on the way," Gilbert smirked as Dylan rolled his eyes.

"C-Crash?" Arthur replied nervously.

"Relax Arthur, Gilbert's just kidding around. We're going to be alright, okay," Alfred promised optimistically.

"B-But what if..."

"We'll be fine. We totally made this crystal proof and we have to thank you for that," Vladimir smirked cockily.

"What?" Arthur asked with widened eyes.

"That little platform you made to save me with? Ivan had the idea of using its materials to create the contraption that will carry all of us. You can't crystallize something that's already crystallized."

"Dude, did I mention how awesome you are?"

"Thanks. Anyways, we best get going. The clock is ticking and we've gotta hurry to get to that island in less than 12 hours," Vladimir replied as Arthur stepped inside the huge round ball where the passengers were supposed to be inside. Just as Vladimir said, the entire room had black crystal mixed with metal and smelted as the walls, shelves, chairs, tables, floors and furnishings with some weaved straw as the rug, painted with a white plaster material that felt a bit like rubber.

"This is awesome, but why the rubbery floor?" Alfred asked.

"That would be for me. I've had a problem with setting fire footprints on the floor."

"Lovely," Arthur replied sarcastically. "And it is also crystal proof?"

"Sure is! I added in specs of that crystal stuff to also prevent more fires from me."

"Smart," Alfred replied.

"Shall we take off?" Dylan asked.

"Yep. Best sit down, it's going to be bumpy on the first takeoff," Vladimir warned everyone as they took their seats beside the dome wall.

Vladimir sat down on the metal seat where the driver was supposed to sit, placed his hands into the furnace, lighting it up to provide the heat to make the balloon fly. In several minutes, the balloon began taking off. Vladimir placed his hands on the wheel, looking through the scope to see where he was going before controlling the balloon toward where the direction of the Crystal Island of Magic was located.

Arthur watched the clock ticking, then staring at Alfred with worry. He hoped they would be able to make it to the island on time before it was too late. What if they didn't make it? Would he be considered a criminal for murdering the king? Perhaps so. He would have to figure out what to do, if that was to happen. One of his brothers would take over as king, probably Dylan. Arthur would continue his journey to the Island of Magic, then live there by himself. Perhaps Vladimir wouldn't mind popping by for visits. He seemed like a good friend and appreciated his help. Vladimir never gave up on them, even though his master did.

In only an hour, Vladimir deemed it safe to walk inside the dome. Many were taking a rest from the long day they had. Beds were made under the seats with drawers to protect everyone from Vladimir's and Arthur's magic while they slept. For some reason, Arthur couldn't sleep. There was so much to worry about and he was thankful he was allowed to worry and fear without risking the walls, floor and objects crystallizing like his room. Arthur did notice the walls turning slightly dark, but not by much. So much fear was inside him.

Arthur still remembered when Alfred used to play with him as a little boy. He loved all the crystals he created, but then that one little slip happened and Arthur ended up hurting him when trying to save him. Alfred's entire body was slowly crystallizing from his foot, to his body, to his organs, to his lungs to his little head. Alfred struggled to breathe until he could breathe no more. If not for Wizard Sadik, Alfred would be dead. It was bad enough his memories could not be restored and some of those brain cells were still crystallized in his brain.

Tears began pouring out from Arthur and he began crying. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. Why did he have to be born with these stupid powers? Why did it have to harm those he loved. As Arthur wept, he began thinking on those precious moments he ever had with Alfred from when he was small to when he grew up big and strong. Even though Arthur had locked himself in his room, not allowing Alfred in, they still had their moments together during mealtime and playing harmless games like Chess. Arthur always loved it when Alfred smiled and laughed. He wanted to cherish those moments.

Arthur did not notice, but the darkened walls full of dark crystals began slowly reverting back to their original form. Though, someone did and he was on the driver's seat of the dome.

Vladimir rose his eyebrows as the black crystal drawer where Arthur slept slowly began reverting back to its original form. He had a nudging feeling that maybe there was a way Arthur could fix Alfred on his own.


	10. The Crystal Island of Magic

**I know it's been a while, since I've done a chapter of this. I'm still continuing. Since this is my week off from work, I will be updating like crazy. Review please!**

The sun was rising and Alfred had finally woken up. He pushed himself out of the drawer, using a handle located above him. Popping his head out, he saw Arthur and Vladimir eating breakfast. He arrived to join with them in eating before Vladimir stopped him. Much of Alfred's organs were still crystallized. Wizard Sadik's magic was able to keep him alive, but he could not eat until this was fixed. Arthur was saddened by this, blaming himself for Alfred's predicament.

"H-Hey listen, once we get to the Crystal Island of Magic, Alfred will be back to his old kingy self," Vladimir assured, noticing that the floor was darkening from under Arthur's feet.

"I hope you're right," Arthur muttered, noticing the darkening floor. "What's the use? All this fear. I can't contain it. Even this ship can only contain so much of my crystallized powers."

"Then why don't you talk about it? Let it all out. That's what you always did with me when I had a nightmare. You'd let me talk about it, then you'd take me to the closet and show me that it wasn't so scary," Alfred asked.

"This isn't like monsters in your closet, Alfred. I could instantly kill you. I don't think you understand the danger you are in. I can't just let out my powers and face my fear. That could mean your death or did you forget that notion?"

"Well, running away and locking yourself in a tower isn't doing anything either, is it!?" Alfred argued, crossing his arms.

"Well... I... non of this would've happened had you listened to me instead of shoving this Queen stuff down my throat!"

"I wasn't! You were the one running away like some sort of coward! That's what you've always done, wasn't it, run away from me, going to your room for eight or so hours, not wanting to see me, oh and freakin' lying to me for all these years!? You know what the worst part is, Arthur!?" Alfred shouted, Arthur about to argue back before Alfred continued, in a quiet but serious tone. "I would have understood."

"... Come again?" Arthur asked, speechless for a second.

"I would have understood. I would have been patient. Sure, as a kid, I would have bugged you a lot, not liking the situation, maybe ask 20 Questions, but with time I would found some other way of spending time with you without both of us getting hurt. Heck, I'm guessing Mom and Dad went to Wizard Sadik for some suggestions. Knowing me, I would have snuck off and found Vladimir, then we would have gone to this adventure a long time ago without this crystal stuff inside me, without you pushing me away. Would that have been good? No, but it sure would have been a better choice than pushing me away, lying to me and making me find out during my last hours moment of living just to find out that my older brother has been pushing me away, because he has super powers he can't control and has been trying to contain them for who knows how long. The fact Mom and Dad even suggested you keeping this from me makes me even more upset. I mean, I can't believe of all the people I've looked up to my whole life, they were the ones keeping you from giving me the slightest bit of information of what's going on with my big brother, someone I love more than anything, my brother! Why? What happened to _never tell a lie_ or _we are family, we tell everything_? I just... I can't believe they did that to you... to us... why? I would have understood! I would have."

Arthur opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. His feet were shaking. Alfred was a risktaker and can be very stubborn, but he was right. Had he known about what was going on from the beginning, this whole mess could have been avoided. Why did Mom and Dad tell him to keep this a secret? That's right, to protect Alfred, so he wouldn't get hurt. But, Alfred was already getting hurt by Arthur not spending time with him, even worse by the fact he didn't know why. Had he known why, would the pain have been less severe? Should Mom and Dad have known this would make their relationship worsen or hurt Alfred more? No. If Arthur didn't know, how could their parents?

"They tried the best they could, Alfred," Arthur finally said quietly as Alfred sniffed. Arthur took Alfred's hands. "I'm so so sorry, Alfred. I should have told you from the start. You trusted me and I broke it. I hope to god that I don't lose you, because of this."

Alfred smiled a bit, then felt a little ticklish inside him, then jumped. Arthur raised his eyebrows as Alfred, said, "that's weird, I felt funny there for a second."

"Is everything alright?"

"Fine, just... weird. Must be my crystallized stomach telling me I'm hungry."

"Nice try."

"Darn. This stinks."

Arthur chuckled as Vladimir smirked a bit. Something was telling him that Alfred's _funny feeling_ wasn't out of hunger or coincidence. If his instincts were correct, perhaps Arthur wouldn't need to go to this island to save Alfred.

The ship began flying into some fog as Vladimir began lowering down to the waters. The rest was now to drive through waters. He began turning on the propellers that would drive the ship on the waters. Arthur looked out the window, impatiently hoping to spot some sort of land. There was only an hour or two remaining before Alfred would be permanently crystallized.

It would only be an hour or so before Arthur finally spotted something.

"I see something!" Arthur cried out.

"Looks like it," Vladimir replied. He stopped the ship, then stopped the propellers before sinking in the anchor.

Dylan yawned, removing himself from the drawer he was sleeping it. He muttered, _"how long was everyone up?"_

"A while. We just made it to the island with a few hours to spare," Arthur replied as Dylan nodded.

"I hope you both weren't fighting, while I was asleep."

"They did, but they madeup. Now, co'mon, we need to get to the island and fast," Vladimir said.

Everyone floated on a small boat, rowing to the crystal island that was literally made of clear crystal. Arthur felt strong magic in this place. Though, there was one small problem. This island looked completely abandoned. There was something else. Not too far off where everyone was lied a ship that was in pieces. Arthur stared at it, hands shaking as he recognized the ship.

 _"M-Mum..."_ Arthur muttered with emotion in his voice. Alfred stared at the ship speechless.

 _"Are they...?"_ Alfred asked in a whisper before feeling something painful and hard freezing inside him. "Gu-ah!" He wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Alfred!" Arthur cried, grabbing Alfred by the shoulders as he gasped. It seemed that Sadik's spell was beginning to wear off.

 _"G-Go, you need to find..."_ Alfred muttered before falling onto the crystallized ground, feeling more of his insides slowly crystallizing.

"Don't Alfred, I..." Arthur cried, grabbing onto Alfred and trying to slow the process. So much fear was inside of him.

"Wait, Arthur..." Vladimir cried to Arthur before he was pushed off by Alfred.

"Go Arthur!" Alfred cried as his entire body began crystallizing, his breathing tightening.

"ALFRED!" Arthur cried, trying to run back to Alfred, but it was too late. His entire body was now black crystal. "A... Alfred..." His face froze, staring at the crystallized statue that was his precious little brother. His eyes watered, then covered, then a screeching scream escaped from his voice, followed by two fists pounding on the ground. Arthur could not hold back anymore, nothing. The clear ground began turning black from under Arthur, then began spreading very rapidly.

"ARTHUR!" Vladimir cried, running to Arthur, then pulling him from Alfred's statue.

"NO! GET OFF ME!" Arthur screamed, his hands clinging onto Alfred's statue before Vladimir yanked him away. Before Arthur could stop him, he brought Arthur into his arms, clinging to him tightly as fire began bursting from the two of them, creating a purple fire.

Dylan watched from the sidelines, his face full of shock and worry. Vladimir was crazier than he thought. Surly, even he wouldn't be able to counter Arthur's crystal powers before finding himself crystallized. Yet, here he was, trying to restrain Arthur as much as he could as to not turn this island into black crystal.

Arthur was angrily pushing himself from Vladimir, but couldn't. He was purposely even trying to crystallize Vladimir a bit to get him away and yet here he was. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't push Vladimir away. Even with noticing tiny bits of black creating on Vladimir's cloak, he still remained. Finally, his strength gave in and he finally found himself in tears, weeping in Vladimir's arms. The purple fire began cooling down.

Slowly, but surely, the purple fire was no more and it was just Arthur weeping in Vladimir's arms. Dylan carefully approached the duo, hugging his little brother, who was crying in pain and sorrow. Though, Arthur was no longer turning the ground black. There was also a mysterious figure in a white cloak walking toward the group. Dylan was the first to look up.

As Vladimir and Arthur began looking up, the hood from the cloak, showing a blond-white haired man with sky blue eyes and a deadpan face. He also had a cross pin in his hair. He looked at the crystallized Alfred, then at Arthur.

"Was that your doing?" The stranger asked as Arthur nodded, trembling. "I see."

"P-Please... if there's anyway you..." Arthur pleaded.

"You made that. You can fix it," the stranger said plainly.

"H-How?"

"When you make a mess, you clean it up. When you open a door, you close it. Figure it out," the stranger said bluntly, rolling his eyes.

"How the bloody hell does that help, might I ask!?" Arthur asked in rage as Vladimir began thinking.

"Make a mess, clean it up. Open a door, close it," Vladimir muttered, he then took a piece of cloth, then burned it before it instantly went out.

"This is no time for a fire show, Vladimir!"

"No, listen. This is the first time I've ever put out any fire without water or Wizard Sadik's help," Vladimir explained as Arthur blinked. "When you make a mess, you clean it up, right? You open a door, you close it? What do you do when you crystallize?"

"I... feel anger... sadness- wait," Arthur said, as if realizing what Vladimir and the stranger were trying to tell him.

"So... you can de-crystalize something by feeling the opposite of angry and sad?" Dylan asked, feeling like he just asked a stupid question.

Arthur touched each of Alfred's shoulders, closing his eyes, then whispered, _"Alfred, I'm so sorry for all of this, this lying, this anger, this frustration. If you want me to be honest, I've never been happier with anyone else other than you and there is no one else more precious."_ The black crystal around Alfred began slowly disappearing, reverting to human skin.

Alfred began gasping as his entire body reformed back to his human self. His organs were working again and everything began flooding back.

Alfred remembered the days as a child when he would skate across the black floor in black crystallized skates. Arthur was always with him, holding his hand. He remembered the sculptures Arthur would make for Alfred like black unicorns, bunnies and fairies. He also remembered when climbing on top of one of the sculptures when his foot slipped and he fell. Arthur accidentally shot his powers at Alfred's head and he began slowly crystallizing. His breath began hitching and he choked, no longer being able to breathe. It was horrifying. His parents were scared, even Wizard Sadik was scared. He also remembered watching Arthur run away in terror.

Alfred hugged Arthur, who was crying in his arms. He whispered, _"shhhh, it's okay Arthur. Everything's okay, see?"_

"Idiots. What are you doing here?" The stranger asked.

"We actually came here to resolve this problem and Arthur needs someone to teach him how to control his powers," Vladimir explained.

"If you can control your emotions, you can control your powers. In other words, if you want to control your powers, see a therapist," the stranger said.

"You seem pretty confident. What's your name?" Vladimir asked.

"Lukas. You?"

"Vladimir and this is Queen Arthur and King Alfred, their majesties."

"Kingdom of Spades? You must be the new ones. My apologies about your loss."

"What... happened to...?" Arthur asked, his voice still full of emotion.

"They wrecked their ship and died. Guessing they didn't expect this island to be made entirely of crystal. But, they did leave something," Lukas replied.

"Something?" Dylan asked as Lukas nodded, then signaled everyone to follow him.

"I love this guy. Just so you know, you became my BFF number 2!" Vladimir grinned as Lukas gave him a look.

"Number 2?" Arthur questioned.

"You're number 1, Queeny," Vladimir grinned.

"Me? But, I'm not... We aren't... You couldn't possibly..." Arthur replied bashfully as Vladimir grinned in response.


End file.
